AUTHOR ARCHIVES

Frank Konkel

Frank Konkel is Nextgov’s executive editor. He writes about the intersection of government and technology. Frank began covering tech in 2013 upon moving to the Washington, D.C. area after getting his start in journalism working at local and state issues at daily newspapers in his home state of Michigan. Frank was born and raised on a dairy farm and graduated from Michigan State University.

February 16, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
The Defense Department will take the next step in its quest for an enterprisewide cloud computing contract potentially worth billions on March 7, hosting an industry day. The industry day, which will take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Pentagon City, will give tech and defense contractors the opportunity to...

February 15, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
Embroiled in allegations that taxpayers improperly paid for his wife’s travels, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin promised to Congress that the agency responsible for caring for more than 9 million veterans would be better stewards of taxpayer dollars. Shulkin, testifying before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Thursday, told lawmakers...

February 14, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
The Trump White House is encouraging federal agencies to invest money in artificial intelligence and related technologies, according to one of its top tech officials. Speaking Feb. 13 at an event hosted by The New York Times, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios said the Trump administration became the...

February 9, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
One of the biggest challenges for the IRS is simply responding to the more than 116 million Americans who call the agency each year with questions. Taxpayers calling the IRS last year waited an average of 17 minutes with only 53 percent of callers receiving services, despite how much taxpayers...

February 7, 2018
A two-year-old company with one employee and little past performance will play a supporting role in one of the Defense Department’s most important tech acquisitions of the year. In late January, the Defense Department awarded a $7 million sole-source contract to Eagle Harbor Solutions LLC, an Alaska Native-owned 8(a) small...

February 6, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
A two-year-old company with one employee and little past performance will play a supporting role in one of the Defense Department’s most important tech acquisitions of the year. In late January, the Defense Department awarded a $7 million sole-source contract to Eagle Harbor Solutions LLC, an Alaska Native-owned 8(a) small...

February 1, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
Like the Rolling Stones, it used to be citizens couldn’t get no satisfaction from federal agencies, but a new report suggests citizen satisfaction with the federal government is on the upswing. Citizen satisfaction reached an 11-year high last year, rising 2.5 percent to 69.7 according to the American Customer Satisfaction...

January 24, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
The next two months will be a pivotal time for the Defense Department’s commercial electronic health records platform, MHS Genesis. Developed by Cerner under a $4.3 billion contract won by defense contractor Leidos, the platform is undergoing significant optimization based on feedback—including several thousand open “trouble tickets”—across four pilot locations....

January 18, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
Northern Virginia, Montgomery County and Washington, D.C. are three of the 20 finalists for Amazon’s next headquarters, dubbed HQ2. The tech giant narrowed its search Thursday from 238 bid proposals it received in October from regions all across the continent. In a statement, the company said it will work with...

January 16, 2018
FROM NEXTGOV
The Defense Department put on hold its commercial electronic health records rollout—MHS Genesis—for eight weeks as it assesses the “successes and failures” released to the field thus far. First reported by Politico Pro, Defense Healthcare Management System spokesperson David Norley confirmed the system’s halt to Nextgov Tuesday as it addresses...